SC Ventures

SC Ventures Research

Investment Thesis

SC Ventures is the corporate venture-building and strategic investment arm of Standard Chartered Bank. Rather than operating as a traditional financial-return-only fund, SC Ventures pursues a dual model: it builds fintech ventures from scratch inside the bank (venture building) and makes strategic minority investments in external companies that extend the bank's digital capabilities. Its stated belief is that "banking has a critical role to play in society," and it targets three structural gaps: digital adoption gaps in retail and SME banking, underserved global trade corridors and SME segments, and the need for institutional-grade digital asset infrastructure. High-conviction themes include institution-grade digital capabilities, a footprint in high-potential regulated markets across Asia, Africa, and the Middle East, and addressing unmet client needs through digital transformation.

Sector Focus

SC Ventures organizes its work around three pillars:

• Digital Banking & Lifestyle — technology-enabled retail banking, onboarding, and wealth/financial-wellness products (Appro, myZoi, Vault22, Zai, SOLV Ghana/Kenya, Furaha Financial)
• Trade & Supply Chains — SME trade finance, working-capital, and supply-chain platforms (Audax, TASConnect, OLEA, Labamu)
• Digital Assets — regulated crypto custody, tokenization, and market infrastructure (Zodia Custody, Zodia Markets, Libeara, SWIAT)

Layered on top is an AI Lab exploring applied AI in banking, and an emerging quantum computing effort (Qubitra, a joint venture with Fujitsu) aimed at financial-services applications.

Stage Focus

SC Ventures does not fit a conventional pre-seed-through-Series-A framework. It operates across the full spectrum: it incubates ventures from zero (true 0-to-1 venture building, functionally pre-seed), continues to fund them through follow-on rounds, and separately writes strategic minority-investment checks into already-scaled external companies (e.g., a stake in GSR, a crypto market maker, at a valuation exceeding $1B). Treat stage preference as effectively "all stages," weighted toward venture building at the earliest stage and strategic/growth-stage minority stakes for external targets.

Check Size

No standardized check size is publicly disclosed — consistent with a corporate venture arm that both incubates (small initial checks, e.g., myZoi's early support) and takes large strategic stakes (its GSR investment implies a check large enough to secure "first external shareholder" status in a $1B+ company). We are not assigning a numeric check-size range given this bimodal pattern.

Lead Tendency

Mixed. For internally built ventures, SC Ventures is effectively the founding/lead investor by construction. For external strategic investments, it typically participates alongside or as a minority strategic partner rather than leading syndicates in the traditional VC sense.

Recent Activity

• May 2026: Took a strategic minority stake in crypto market maker GSR at a valuation exceeding $1B, becoming GSR's first external shareholder — a signal of deepening conviction in institutional digital-asset infrastructure.
• January 2026: Launched Qubitra Technologies, a London-headquartered joint venture with Fujitsu to commercialize quantum computing for financial services, with first go-lives targeted for 2026.
• September 2025: Began raising a dedicated $250M digital asset fund backed by a Middle East investor, targeting a 2026 launch and covering tokenization, blockchain infrastructure, and other regulated digital-asset plays. Also reportedly exploring a ~$100M Africa-focused fund and a first venture-debt fund.
• September 2025: Launched Lexarius with INSEAD, an AI-powered conversational platform for corporate learning and development (its first EdTech-adjacent venture).
• January 2025: Launched Qatalyst with ENGIE Factory, a due-diligence platform for carbon markets, supporting the net-zero transition.
• January 2025: Established operations in Saudi Arabia, with plans for a dedicated in-kingdom team and a domestic Saudi fund focused on minority investments and new business launches.
• November 2024: Launched Vault22 (with NEXT176), a financial-wellness platform for South Africa merging Autumn and 22seven.
• February 2024: Launched SOLV Ghana, extending its B2B MSME marketplace (following India and Kenya) into its first continental-Africa expansion step.

Fund status: actively deploying, with an accelerating cadence of both venture launches and external strategic checks in digital assets specifically.

Portfolio Highlights

Ventures built (19+): Zodia Custody and Zodia Markets (crypto custody/trading), Libeara (tokenization, incubated the first tokenized SGD government bond fund, >$1B in assets tokenized to date), SWIAT (pan-European DLT settlement network JV with DekaBank, LBBW, Comyno), Audax (digital banking-as-a-service), TASConnect (supply-chain/working-capital finance), Appro (3-minute digital retail-banking onboarding, UAE), myZoi (UAE financial-inclusion wallet, raised $14M from SC Ventures and SBI Holdings, Central Bank of UAE licensed), Vault22 (South Africa financial wellness), SOLV Ghana/Kenya (B2B MSME marketplace), Lexarius (AI-powered corporate learning, with INSEAD), Qatalyst (carbon-market due diligence, with ENGIE Factory), Qubitra (quantum computing for finance, with Fujitsu).

Strategic investments (25+): GSR (crypto market maker, first external shareholder), Elwood Technologies (institutional crypto trading infrastructure), Ripple (blockchain payments), Digital Asset (enterprise DLT), Nium (cross-border payments), Callsign (identity/fraud prevention), Thought Machine (core banking platform), OpenFin (financial desktop software), DataRobot (enterprise AI), Instabase (document-processing AI), Bukalapak (Indonesian e-commerce marketplace), Jumbotail (Indian B2B commerce), Secret Double Octopus, SilentEight, and Smarsh (compliance/AML/cybersecurity infrastructure).

Team

• Alex Manson — CEO of SC Ventures. Background in fixed income and investment banking; previously Head of Transaction Banking at Standard Chartered.
• Gurdeep Singh Kohli — Global Head of Enterprise Innovation, Standard Chartered. Focused on venture building and innovation strategy.
• Harald Eltvedt — Leads incubation. Serial entrepreneur with prior exits including WebMD.
• Michael Cutler — Leads technology. AI and Web3 expertise; former CTO at KPMG.

The broader team includes operating specialists across legal, compliance, risk, finance, fundraising, and regional leadership, supported by an ecosystem of advisors in technology, regulation, and banking.

Decision Process

Operates as a corporate-venture unit within Standard Chartered Bank rather than a traditional GP/LP partnership — investment and venture-building decisions run through an internal governance/investment-committee structure, informed by the CEO and functional leads above.

Founder Preferences

For venture-building, SC Ventures typically starts internally (often staffed initially by ex-Standard Chartered operators, as with Appro's founding team) before spinning out. For strategic investments, it favors founders/teams building institution-grade infrastructure — regulatory credibility, enterprise-grade compliance, and a plausible path to serving banks and financial institutions are important filters.

Geographic Focus

Global, with particular depth in Asia (Singapore HQ at 21 Collyer Quay), the Middle East (Dubai/ADGM, and a new Riyadh presence established January 2025), Africa (Nairobi, Ghana, and a planned ~$100M Africa fund), Hong Kong, and London. Portfolio companies additionally operate in Ireland, Germany, India, and Indonesia.